Charity begins at home

Saturday 25th July 2009, 3:00PM BST.

From Gwen Tucker.
LAST year I wrote to the JEP about Deputy Huet wanting this Island to give up to £26 million to overseas aid. Now I am doing the same about her successor, Deputy Gorst.

For 40 years we have been giving aid to these poorer countries and we are just one of many countries which have given money, yet it seems they are still no better off. Please can Deputy Gorst tell me why?

As long as our own people are under-housed and live below the poverty line he should not be thinking about giving our money away.

We should look after our own first and then if there is anything left we can give it away with good heart.

If money is needed so badly he should ask all of our millionaires who live the good life in Jersey to give 50% of the interest they make on all their vast wealth to help these people. In a time with so much economic unrest we just have to look to home first.

Deputy Gorst must be realistic and stop asking for such unreasonable sums. The old maxim ‘charity begins at home’ should apply at this time. As we have given so much to overseas aid I am sure they will understand that you have to give to your own first.

The Island could put that £7.26 million towards housing, Social Security, heritage, hospital, transport and wage increases, to name but a few local needs.

1
camelia

July 25, 2009 at 10:55 pm

Well said Gwen and if more people were to make a comment then maybe something would be done.It is time now to prioritise,for us to look after our own and for other countries to look after their own.If someone were to do a survey on Queen St on a Sat and ask the question “Do you know what our overseas aid is spent on?”Probably 99% would not have a clue!

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2
Warrem J

July 26, 2009 at 10:39 pm

Jersey’s overseas aid programme dates back to when much of the islands revenue arose from corporate taxation.

Not any more due to 0 – 10 The tax burden falls directly on the taxation of individuals, through higher levels of personal taxation, increased road fuel duty and of course GST.

There must therefore be a strong case to scrap the overseas aid programme and retain the tax revenues sourced from private individuals within the local community.

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3
kate

July 27, 2009 at 10:47 am

Camelia although your idea sounds good the more people there are will not make a difference. Remember the GST out cry. I believe in helping people however the time has come when we need to look after our own. If joe public want to give overseas then they can do it each with with the many collections going on in supermarkets, jumble sales etc. I am sorry but we really need to keep it at home now.

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4
Gerald

July 27, 2009 at 11:43 am

I would say exactly the same to the over generous government of UK plc.
I remember Gordon Brown/Milliband announcing, on many foreign visits, that X million pounds of taxpayer’s money was being given, over & above what had already been dished out.

Have they ever got parliament’s consent on this largesse or the taxpayer’s.
India, which can afford a space programme, yet still demands hand outs due to it’s alleged “poverty”.

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5
Nellie Macon

July 27, 2009 at 1:59 pm

Excellent letter Gwen – totally agree.

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6
Nick

July 29, 2009 at 11:39 pm

It is very difficult to come down on either side here 100%, I do think however that in difficult economic periods it would prehaps begin to get the message through to some countries where we give overseas aid that this is not money that grows on trees, and that prehaps they should start to get tough over the undoubted sums that go missing in some of these programs without explanation!It is difficult to be judgemental, but there is a lot to be said about Governments in countries where there is a high percentage of the population living below the poverty line diverting resources into over prestigeous projects such as Space exploration.
It is difficult when there is so much to do and such a shortage of resources to do it with to cut back overseas aid, but I do think that in economic cicumstances such as exist at present we should concentrate on sorting the problems on our own doorstep before trying to deal with other people’s.
Prehaps cutting aid by 50% in such years might be appropriate?(Provided it is re-instated again if the good times return, and with the proviso that the other 50% is spent on aleviating poverty at home)Such action might serve to motivate those overseas to realise that good times do not role 100% of the time even in developed economies and that total dependance on foreign aid is not necessarily something on which they can totally rely indefinately.
It is seriously questionable that the States are proposing to cut back on essential child,mental health,and medical expenditure and other essential services in the Island to save money when they are then giving away a larger amount as overseas aid!

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